Brand Blanshard facts for kids

Percy Brand Blanshard (/ˈblænʃərd/ BLAN-shərd; August 27, 1892 – November 19, 1987) was an American philosopher. He was best known for strongly supporting reason and rationalism. This means he believed that logic and thinking are the best ways to understand the world. Even when he disagreed with others, he was always polite and fair. He showed what he called the "rational temper," which means staying calm and logical in discussions.

Brand Blanshard's Life Story

Brand Blanshard was born on August 27, 1892, in Fredericksburg, Ohio. His parents, Francis and Emily, were from Canada. His father was a minister. Brand also had a twin brother named Paul.

When Brand was very young, his mother Emily died in an accident. His father then took Brand and Paul to Grand Rapids, Michigan. There, their grandmother, Orminda Blanshard, helped care for them.

In 1899, the family moved to Edinburg, Ohio. A few years later, Brand's father became ill and moved to New Mexico for his health. He passed away there in 1904.

Grandma Orminda raised Brand and Paul. She received a small pension, and the boys helped by washing dishes. She knew how important a good education was. In 1908, they moved to Detroit so the boys could attend Central High School.

Both Brand and Paul did very well in school. They joined the debating team, and Brand was even named class poet. Later, a famous philosopher named Bertrand Russell was surprised by how good Brand's poetry was. Brand was also a talented baseball player.

College and War Experiences

In 1910, the Blanshard brothers started at the University of Michigan. The tuition was very low for state residents. Brand studied classics and discovered his love for philosophy. After just three years, he won a Rhodes Scholarship. This allowed him to study at Merton College, Oxford in England.

At Oxford, he learned from Horace W. B. Joseph, who greatly influenced his ideas. He also met famous writers like T. S. Eliot. When World War I began, Brand paused his studies. He joined the British Army YMCA and traveled to places like Bombay and Amhara. There, he saw poverty and the terrible effects of war.

He returned to the USA, and by chance, met his twin brother Paul at Columbia University. They worked together on a project with their mentor, John Dewey. Brand earned his Master's degree from Columbia. After that, he joined the US Army and served in France.

After the war, he went back to Oxford to finish his degree. Then, he earned his doctorate from Harvard University, studying under Clarence Irving Lewis.

Teaching and Later Life

Brand Blanshard taught briefly at the University of Michigan. From 1925 to 1944, he taught at Swarthmore College. He then spent the rest of his career at Yale University until he retired in 1961. At Yale, he led the Philosophy Department for many years.

In 1952, he gave important lectures in Scotland called the Gifford Lectures. In 1955, he was honored by Merton College, Oxford, where he had studied.

In 1918, Blanshard married Frances Bradshaw. She later became a dean at Swarthmore College. Her death in 1966 was a very sad time for him. He finished a book she had started, publishing it in 1970. In 1969, he married Roberta Yerkes. Brand Blanshard passed away in 1987 at the age of 95 in New Haven, Connecticut.

Blanshard's Philosophical Ideas

Brand Blanshard was a strong rationalist. This means he believed that reason is the most important way to gain knowledge. He defended this idea even when many others were questioning it. He was also seen as one of the last "absolute idealists." This is because he was influenced by British philosophers who believed that reality is based on ideas or the mind.

However, Blanshard didn't agree with all parts of idealism. He believed that the physical world exists independently of our minds. He didn't think that "to be is to be perceived," which means something only exists if someone is thinking about it.

Understanding the Universe

Blanshard disagreed with ideas like positivism and empiricism. These ideas suggest that knowledge comes only from senses or facts. Instead, he believed the universe is a single, complete system. In this system, everything is connected and has a necessary place. He thought the universe as a whole is the only true "particular thing." All other parts are like "universals," which are properties or relations that can appear in many places.

He saw his view of the universe as similar to Spinoza's philosophy. Spinoza believed in one ultimate substance that makes up everything.

The Power of the Mind

Blanshard also disagreed with ideas that tried to simplify the mind, like behaviorism. Behaviorism suggests that the mind is just a set of behaviors. Blanshard believed that the mind is the most certain reality we know. He thought that thinking is what the mind does to find truth. The goal of thinking, for him, was to fully understand the universe.

He believed that to truly understand something, you need to see how it fits into a larger system. This means understanding its necessary connections. Blanshard thought the universe was not just consistent, but also very coherent. This means everything is logically connected and operates in a deterministic way. He even thought that cause and effect were logical laws.

Truth and Connections

In his early book, The Nature of Thought, Blanshard supported the coherence theory of truth. This theory says that a belief is true if it fits well with other beliefs in a system. Later, he thought the connection between a thought and what it's about was unique. He said it could be described as either "correspondence" (matching reality) or "coherence" (fitting with other thoughts).

He also believed in a strong idea of "internal relations." This means that how things are related to each other affects what those things are. He argued that no relationship is completely unimportant to the things it connects. The importance of the relationship can vary in degree.

Reason and Religion

Blanshard was open to the idea of theism (belief in God). However, he was skeptical of traditional religious rules. He didn't see his idea of the "Absolute" (the whole universe) as a personal God. But he still thought it was something worth studying and even dedicating oneself to.

He defined "religion" as dedicating oneself to what one believes is true and important. For him, his religion was serving reason in a deep, all-encompassing way. He admired the "rational temper" as an ideal for humans, even though it's hard to achieve. He especially admired Henry Sidgwick for showing this quality.

Ethics and Goodness

In ethics (the study of right and wrong), Blanshard was generally a utilitarian. This means he believed that actions should aim to produce the greatest good. He preferred the term "teleological," which means focusing on goals or outcomes. He believed that some experiences are good in themselves, not just for what they lead to.

He thought that an experience is good if it fulfills a natural desire or drive. It also creates a feeling of satisfaction. He believed these two things together explain what "goodness" truly means. He defined other ethical terms, like "right," based on this idea of intrinsic goodness. A right act is one that creates the most goodness in a situation.

Ideas on Society

Blanshard's ideas on political theory were influenced by philosophers like T. H. Green and Bernard Bosanquet. He believed they helped make Jean-Jacques Rousseau's idea of the "general will" more understandable. The "rational will" (or "real will") is what we would truly want if we thought about everything very carefully.

Blanshard argued that this "ideal" will is real and can be the basis for a good political system. He believed that a government is justified if it helps people achieve the common goals that come from their rational will. He didn't suggest a specific type of government. However, he mentioned that he had an early interest in socialism and usually voted for the Democratic party.

Clear Writing in Philosophy

Blanshard strongly believed that philosophical writing should be clear and easy to understand. He wrote a short book called "On Philosophical Style." In it, he argued that deep philosophical ideas don't need to be confusing. He admired the clarity of British analytical philosophy. However, he was concerned that this type of philosophy was focusing on too narrow a range of topics.

His book Reason and Analysis criticized some modern philosophical approaches. He felt they were anti-reason or too obscure. Because his most important book, The Nature of Thought, was published just before World War II, it didn't get as much attention as it might have. This means his work isn't as widely recognized as it could be.

Quotations from The Philosophy of Brand Blanshard

This book explores Blanshard's ideas.

The Philosophy of Brand Blanshard (Open Court, 1980) is a special book about his work. It includes Blanshard's own 183-page autobiography. It also has his detailed replies to critics and a full list of his writings.

Major Works

• The Nature of Thought (1939) – Two volumes.
• Reason and Goodness (1961)
• Reason and Analysis (1962)
• The Uses of a Liberal Education (1973)
• Reason and Belief (1974)
• Four Reasonable Men (1984) – This was his last book. It tells the stories of four people he admired for their rational thinking: Marcus Aurelius, John Stuart Mill, Ernest Renan, and Henry Sidgwick.

See also

• American philosophy
• List of American philosophers